TechZone360 Week in Review

With another huge week in technology down, we take a look back and check out all the biggest news in the sector. To that end, our Week in Review coverage is ready to go, so settle in and let's check out some of the biggest news in an already big week!

First, naturally, was a look at the impact of Hurricane Sandy and what effect it would have on the communications industry. Some lessons have been learned, like the need to establish backup power generation at cell tower sites in a bid to protect areas against complete service outages in the face of disasters like Sandy.

Yet there were still plenty of high points in a week that could have been much worse than it was, despite how bad it already was.

Next, for those who were looking to make an upgrade to Windows 8, there was a review of important other features to have, like the Synaptics Touchpad and customer gesture interface solutions. Since Windows 8 is primarily geared toward touchscreens, it was a good idea to include touchscreen – or at least touchscreen-style interfaces – in the system. Admittedly, the nature of the system itself will have a lot to do with the overall impact of touch technology – many systems simply won't be able to handle the touch interface – but for those that can, making the jump to Windows 8 and including the right hardware to match will be valuable.

Then we took a look at Apple's connection to Intel, and whether or not it would continue. Recent moves on Apple's part – changes in suppliers and manufacturing styles – had suggested to some that the two companies may part ways. But these moves also had other possible motives behind them, so the projection that Apple and Intel may halt their longstanding alliance may be premature.

Apple has indeed been making lots of changes of late, especially in regard to throwing off Samsung as a supplier, but ditching Intel is likely to prove much more a long shot.

Next came the results of a Sandvine Research study that shows what many have suspected all along: as the number of things out there that require bandwidth increases – streaming music, streaming video, online gaming – so too does the average consumer's demand for bandwidth. This posed a lot of possible routes that the evolution of Internet service provision could take, and while some of them looked positive for the consumer, some of them could have been much worse.

Finally, we took a look at the concept of Google Free Zone, a basic mobile phone-based Internet access service geared toward reaching the large swath of people in the developing world. It's starting up in the Philippines with some help from Globe Telecom, and will likely expand outward from there. The service provides access to Google features, especially Gmail and search functions, so for new users just getting started, that should cover most of their needs.

As you can see, it was indeed a major week in technology, with plenty of news to go around. Our global online community is constantly keeping watch for fresh news to bring in, and naturally, every weekend we close things out with our Week in Review.